New Zealand

Profile

Read more about these great players and why they are ones to watch during RLWC2013.

Jason Nighingale

Jason Nightingale is a player that has boundless enthusiasm and dominates the right hand side of the St. George Illawarra Dragons attack.

Having tried most positions, Nighingale has settled on being a A fast and agile winger for the team and has spent his entire career at the Dragons with whom he won the 2010 NRL Premiership. He has a unique running style and is rareky seen without a smile.

Nightingale was also a member of the winning New Zealand Kiwis team that beat Australia in the Rugby League World Cup Final 2008.

His most memorable appearance has to be at the Four Nations in 2010 when he scored three tries in four games. Combining with Benji Marshall and Shaun Kenny-Dowall to score the match winning try in the 79th minute was certainly a highlight for him and makes him one to watch.

Josh Hoffman

Hoffman featured twice for New Zealand in 2012, having burst onto the international scene following a series of eye-catching performances at club level with Brisbane Broncos.

Despite hailing from Queensland, Australia, Hoffman has never shied away from expressing his love for the nation of his heritage, who he qualifies to represent through a Kiwi father.

Hoffman stepped into Karmichael Hunt’s shoes as Brisbane Broncos full-back in 2010, having played a bit-part for the club since debuting in 2008.

Now, having made the position his own, Hoffman has set his sights on glory on the world stage with New Zealand.

His kick returns in open play laid the foundations for countless Broncos’ attacks during 2012, and another big season in the NRL could help set the stage for Hoffman to steal the limelight at RLWC2013.

Frank Pritchard

Having been left of the squad in 2008, Kiwi forward Frank ‘The Tank’ Pritchard has redoubled his efforts for club and country as he seeks to make up for lost time.

Pritchard will celebrate his 30th birthday during RLWC2013 and will undoubtedly be keen to grasp with both hands what could prove to be his final opportunity to make a name for himself on Rugby League’s biggest international stage.

Pritchard is a raw-boned second rower or prop forward with the ability to scatter defences, and, despite his size, has earned a reputation for enterprising play and slick ball-handling skills.

Since arriving at Canterbury Bulldogs ahead of the 2011 season, Pritchard has steadily emerged as one of the NRL’s most explosive players, and his presence in the Kiwi pack will undoubtedly strike fear into the hearts of defenders.

A Bit of History

In 2008, New Zealand stunned Australia in front of a partisan crowd at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium to clinch the World Cup for the first time – sweet revenge for a team that had tasted successive defeats in 2000 and 2008.

Rugby League has been alive and kicking in New Zealand for more than 100 years. In 1907 the legendary Albert Baskerville organised Rugby League’s very first international tour, bringing a New Zealand side to Britain to play against the Northern Union.

The side included another legend, Australian Dally Messenger, and after losing a nail-biting first international 9-8 against Wales, the illustrious ‘All Golds’ won a three-test series against a Northern Union representative side 2-1.

While the tour is widely regarded as integral to the establishment of Rugby League in its infancy, back in New Zealand the game is strong in and around the Auckland area – home of the New Zealand Warriors.

The Warriors play in Australia’s NRL, but there is also a seven-team domestic competition which includes Auckland and six other zones: Northland; Manukau; Upper Central; Mid Central; Wellington and Southern.

Prior to the 2008 World Cup win, the highpoint for New Zealand Rugby League was an astonishing 2005 Tri-Nations Final defeat of Australia. The 24-0 whitewash in a final they were not expected even to reach, briefly made New Zealand world number one.

A year after tasting World Cup glory, the Kiwis under performed in Rugby League’s Four Nations, drawing with Australia before suffering a crucial defeat at the hands of the English. But they remain a potent threat and entertain high hopes of retaining a title that took them so long to earn and that they so richly deserve to hold.

Video

Rugby League World Cup 2013 Final Highlights

Australia won Rugby League World Cup 2013 with a resounding
victory over defending champions New Zealand in front of a
record crowd at Old T